According to the Center for Responsive Politics, The entire 2008 federal election, including “all dollars spent by presidential candidates, senate and house candidates, political parties and independent interest groups trying to influence federal elections”…

…cost about $5 Billion.

Update: To clarify, this was hand drawn by me (on the LayersPro Ipad app), to elucidate the fact that one quarter of profits of one company are greater than an entire American election, and its design should reflect only my limited finger doodling skills, and not those of Sunlight’s talented design team. :)